Name: International Mendelssohn Festival
Start: 2025-09-21T19:30:00
Location: Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

Peijun Xu

Sebastian Klinger

Hartmut Rohde

Joanna Kamenarska

Annika Treutler

Sebastian Schmidt

Niklas Schmidt

Anna Kreetta Gribajcevic

Jens Bomhardt

Jan Talich

Roman Patočka

Radim Sedmidubský

Michal Kaňka

Patrick Gallois

Michel Lethiec

Matthias Lingenfelder

Stepan Simonia

Oliver Triendl

Carlo Colombo

Talich Quartet

Elbphilharmonie

This workshop offers a tour through the classical symphony orchestra. From the violin, cello and double bass to the trumpet and flute: participants can try them all out. And there are instruments in different sizes for youngsters and adults alike. To conclude the workshop, a little music-making session where everyone joins in shows that all the instruments harmonise.

Workshop: Klassiko Orchestra Instruments

NDR Chamber Concert

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

When Sergei Prokofiev's Second Piano Concerto was first performed in September 1913, with the composer at the piano, the audience was furious: "To hell with futuristic music. Cats on the roof make better music." Prokofiev bowed as if being applauded – and played an encore. Over a century later, what today's ears consider a rather "moderate" concerto, which begins with an almost romantic theme and features the most difficult solo cadenza of all time, has long been recognized as a masterpiece. The jubilation for soloist Alexander Gadjiev is surely genuine. This is the first time the polyglot pianist, born on the Italian-Slovenian border, has appeared with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Alexander Gadjiev / Gergely Madaras

The young Swedish-Norwegian violinist Johan Dalene has long demonstrated that virtuoso violin music is also at home in Northern Europe. As one of the world's most sought-after young artists, he champions the composers of his Scandinavian homeland. He recorded the album "Nordic Rhapsody" with pianist Christian Ihle Hadland, on which the two immerse themselves entirely in the Nordic soundscape, sometimes light-heartedly, sometimes profoundly. He also presented the violin concerto by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen at his acclaimed Elbphilharmonie concert last year.

Johan Dalene, Violin

An elephant hatches from an egg. It grows, makes friends and encounters all kinds of challenges. A concert about the cycle of life and about friendship through thick and thin – with dance, a puppet show and live music.

Kindergarten Concert »Elephant from the Egg«

An extraordinary combination of sounds characterises this special concert evening: a clarinet, four saxophones and piano unite to form a fascinating ensemble that delights with sophisticated arrangements of classical dances and works by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Gershwin and other composers. Sabine Meyer, one of the world’s leading clarinettists, meets the renowned Alliage Quintet, which is known for its outstanding musicality and innovative programming. Together, they create a completely new world of sound that is characterised by both virtuosity and sensitive interpretation.

Sabine Meyer / Alloy Quintet

Following his sensational success with Shostakovich's First Cello Concerto in February 2025, British rising star Sheku Kanneh-Mason returns to Hamburg with Saint-Saëns' elegant Cello Concerto. His unprecedented career began with his surprise victory on the television show "Britain's Got Talent" and his subsequent performance by captivating an audience of millions at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Not exactly the usual path for a young graduate of the Royal Academy of Music... Yet the likeable musician and football fan has remained down-to-earth and approachable, enjoying playing with his six siblings as much as with the world's best orchestras. The London Philharmonic Orchestra, for example, will complement the ProArte program with Edward Elgar's masterful First Symphony.

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Sheku Kanneh-Mason / Edward Gardner

Musicians from a wide range of different countries and from different continents play together in Bridges Kammerorchester. And you can hear it: the orchestra plays Arabian, Persian and European classical music, jazz, East European, Asiatic and Latin American music, their instruments also come from all over the world. The musicians incorporate their respective cultural experiences. What’s more, they compose all the pieces they play in the concert themselves – rather unique for an orchestra!

Bridges Chamber Orchestra

Faith - hope - love, these three famous terms from the Bible, they characterise Pēteris Vasks, the globally acclaimed composer from Latvia. Faith: clearly very important to him. Hope: never give up! But the most important thing for him: love! And so he writes modern classical music that goes straight to the heart. And yet his artistic credo is: music must never be »sweet«!

RIX Piano Quartet

The harp is often associated with heavenly sounds, which is naturally a wonderful fit for Christmas. However, the concert with world-renowned musician Xavier de Maistre demonstrates that the instrument offers a far greater wealth of expressive possibilities. De Maistre has long since made a name for himself as a musician who expands the boundaries and repertoire of his instrument with virtuosity and a willingness to experiment. When in doubt, he pragmatically takes to pen and paper and arranges existing works for the harp. In his current Advent program, however, this was almost unnecessary: ​​in concerts by Handel and Boieldieu, the charismatic Frenchman showcases the immense – and unexpected – sound spectrum of his instrument: from delicately shimmering melodies to rich chords and thundering basses. The Festival Strings Lucerne is contributing a true Romantic classic with Tchaikovsky's String Serenade.

Xavier de Maistre / Lucerne Strings Festival

Freshly sworn in as Leipzig's Thomaskontor, Johann Sebastian Bach was full of energy in 1723, composing, among other works, the "Magnificat," a eulogy cantata for the Advent season for his new choir. Shortly after the annunciation by the angel Gabriel, Mary tells her cousin the good news of her pregnancy with the Savior. This message sounds especially joyful when Vox Luminis, an outstanding early music ensemble, is on stage.

Bach: Magnificat

A woman playing the cello? Scandalous! At least, that's what people thought in the mid-19th century, when Lise Cristiani launched her extraordinary career. Sol Gabetta sets out to trace the musical path of her courageous predecessor. It goes without saying that Mendelssohn's famous Song Without Words couldn't be missing from this program – after all, it's dedicated to Lise Cristiani and is the only work of this "genre" written for cello. And cellists like Sol Gabetta have another achievement to thank this innovative pioneer for: She was one of the first to perform with an instrument that could be fixed to the floor using the now-common spike, allowing the soloist greater freedom of movement and allowing her to wear wider skirts. Clear the stage for women on the cello!

Sol Gabetta / Gabetta Chapel

Elegance, lightness and tonal refinement – this programme captures the unmistakable spirit of French music. Works by Camille Saint-Saëns, Gabriel Fauré, Claude Debussy and Ernest Chausson can be heard between subtle melody and dance-like drive – finely orchestrated, full of esprit and sensuality. From the delicate combination of harp and violin to Chausson’s large-scale concerto for violin, piano and string quartet, an evening of French charm and tonal finesse unfolds.